How To Perform an Emergency Burr Hole Procedure

Figure 1. Measure the skull thickness on CT to set stopper depth on the Integra skull trephination kit with adjustable stopper.

As a new medical director, I thought to myself, “What is the worst that could happen at our rural, 12-bed ED?” The scenarios we all know came to mind: pericardiocentesis, thoracotomy, lateral canthotomy, resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta, and skull trephination (burr hole). At our monthly departmental meetings, we reviewed all of these procedures so we would be ready. I ordered the necessary kits so we would have the tools on-site. Our hospital had never even had a skull trephination kit before. The one I ordered arrived the day before a 2-year-old patient arrived at triage.

The Case

A 2-year-old male was brought to the emergency department by his mother after falling out of a shopping cart seat and striking his head. He initially appeared well and was running around the triage room. After a period of observation, he became increasingly somnolent, and on repeat exam, his pupils were slightly unequal. A head CT revealed a large epidural hematoma with midline shift. His pupils quickly became significantly worse at 6 mm and 2 mm, and he became unresponsive. I intubated him and called the nearest pediatric trauma center (one hour away) to begin arranging for helicopter transport. During the conversation with the trauma surgeon at the major academic center, I told him I was planning on doing an emergent burr hole. He said, “I’ve never done one of those—it’s up to you.”

I had seen one of these in residency and went to the supply room to find the newly arrived burr hole kit, took a deep breath, then started to prepare for the procedure by reviewing the CT.

I performed the burr hole with the technique described below and evacuated 150 mL of blood. The pupils improved. We placed a sterile dressing on the wound, and the helicopter team transported the patient to the pediatric trauma center.

Figure 2. Galt trephine.
NLM/Science Source

One month later, the mother brought the boy back to the emergency department. The patient was running around the emergency department with no deficits and gave me a hug.

Location to Drill

Emergency department skull trephinations are done in the temporal location 2 cm anterior and 2 cm superior to the tragus.1

Technique

Measure the skull thickness on CT to set stopper depth (see Figure 1).

Shave the hair with clippers; sterile prep and drape.

Inject local anesthetic and then make a 4-cm vertical skin incision down to the periosteum at a point 2 cm superior and 2 cm anterior to the tragus.

Use a periosteal elevator to expose the skull.

Have an assistant hold the patient’s head firmly prior to drilling.

Apply the trephine with gentle, steady pressure until the skull is penetrated. The two nonautomated choices for trephine are the Integra hand crank model with stopper (see Figure 1) and the Galt trephine (see Figure 2). The bone fragment may come out in the device or may need to be removed with forceps. Place the bone fragment in a sterile cup with saline.

Once the bone fragment is removed, the clot may not immediately extrude. Use a small sterile pediatric suction catheter to facilitate hematoma drainage.

If identified, the bleeding artery (usually the middle meningeal) may be ligated/clamped.1

Complications

Emergency department skull trephinations should only be performed in the temporal region to avoid venous sinus injury and complications of air embolism or hemorrhage.

Avoid plunging by using the stopper on the hand crank and by measuring skull thickness on the CT image.

Infection is a possibility.

Historical Perspective

Trephinations of the skull have been found in human skulls older than 10,000 years of age. Skulls from virtually every major civilization show evidence of successful trephinations. There are three common methods for performing trephinations:2

Scraping bone (see Figure 3)

Drilling a series of small holes and connecting them

Making crosshatch cuts in the bone and connecting them to remove a rectangular piece of bone1

Discussion

Figure 3. Bronze Age skull from Jericho, Palestine, 2200–2000 BC. The skull shows four separate holes made by trephination that had begun to heal, indicating that the patient survived the procedure.
Wellcome Images/Science Source

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6 Responses to “How To Perform an Emergency Burr Hole Procedure”

Hi Dr. Beffa,
Thank you for publishing this, as well as citing my review. We have learned a few practical things at our institution that I would like to share:
1) We find it easier, when encountered a clot that wont extrude, to irrigate gently with sterile saline. With patience, the clot will come out.
2) When you break the inner table of the skull with the Galt trephine, it is subtle. Check often for the bone fragment in the instrument.
3) Sometimes the bone fragment has broken free but does not pick up with the instrument. Probe the “disc” of bone and if loose, pick it up with Kelly forceps.
4) Don’t give up on a patient. My partner drilled on an elderly man comatose with herniating SDH. I thought he had no chance of survival, let alone recovery. He walked out of the hospital a month later.
5) Order a second Galt trephine.

Sounds like you are off to a great start as a medical director. That two year old will not be the only person you save thanks to your proactive work!

Figure 1 apppeaes to be dangerously misleading. It could easily lead one to think that you set the depth stop on the drill by holding it up the CT image on your computer screen. Sure, if we stop and think about it, we all know that the CT images on our screen are not life-size, but I worry that, in the midst of a very stressful scenario, first thing someone will recall about this article is that image. There should be a reminder to use the software features to measure the thickness of the skull, and not try direct comparison, as shown in the image.
I have admit that this image pulled me in to read the article. I saw it and wondered how you were using the image to set the depth.
I realize that this sounds like common sense, but common sense is not as common as we’d like to think!